Steinberg Nuendo Expansion Kit User Manual
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21 The included VST Instruments Effects (EFX) page This page features three separate effect units: Distortion, Delay and Modulation (Phaser/Flanger/Chorus). The Ef- fect page is opened by clicking the EFX button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. The Effects page. Each separate effect section is laid out with a row of buttons that determine the effect type or characteristic and a row of sliders for making parameter settings. To activate an effect, click the “Active” button so that a dot appears. Clicking again deactivates the effect. Distortion You can select between 4 basic distortion characteristics: Distortion provides hard clipping distortion. Soft Distortion provides soft clipping distortion. Tape Emulation produces distortion similar to magnetic tape saturation. Tube Emulation produces distortion similar to valve amplifiers. The parameters are as follows: Delay You can select between 3 basic delay characteristics: two separate delay lines panned left and right . In Mono Delay the two delay lines are connected in series for monophonic dual tap delay effects. In Cross delay the delayed sound bounces between the ste- reo channels. The parameters are as follows: Modulation You can select between 3 basic modulation characteristics: The Phaser uses an 8-pole allpass filter to produce the classic phasing effect. The Flanger is composed of two independent delay lines with feedback for the left and the right channel respectively. The delay time of both delays is modulated by one LFO with ad- justable frequency. Chorus produces a rich chorus effect with 4 delays modulated by four independent LFOs. The parameters are as follows: Parameter Description Filter This parameter sets the crossover frequency of the dis- tortion filter. The distortion filter consists of a lowpass fil- ter and a highpass filter with a cutoff frequency equal to the crossover frequency. Tone This parameter controls the relative amount of lowpass and high-pass filtered signal. Drive Sets the amount of distortion by amplifying the input sig- nal. Level This controls the output level of the effect. Parameter Description Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the delay times on or off. Delay 1 Sets the delay time ranging from 0 ms to 728 ms. If MIDI sync is activated the range is from 1/32 to 1/1; straight, triplet or dotted. Delay 2 Same as Delay 1. Feedback This controls the decay of the delays. With higher set- tings the echoes repeat longer. Filter A lowpass filter is built into the feedback loop of the de- lay. This parameter controls the cutoff frequency of this feedback filter. Low settings result in successive echoes sounding darker. Level This controls the output level of the effect. Parameter Description Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the Rate parameter on or off. Rate Sets the rate of the LFOs modulating the delay time. If Song Sync is activated the rate will be synced to various beat increments. Depth This parameter controls the depth of the delay time mod- ulation. Delay This parameter sets the delay time of the four delay lines.
22 The included VST Instruments SR parameters With these buttons you can change the sample rate. Lower sample rates basically reduces the high frequency content and sound quality, but the pitch isn’t altered. This is a great way to emulate the “lo-fi” sounds of older digital synths! If button “F” is active, the selected Part’s program will play back with the sample rate set in the host application. If button “1/2” is active, the selected Part’s program will play back with half the original sample rate. If button “1/4” is active, the selected Part’s program will play back with a quarter of the original sample rate. A bonus effect of using lower sample rates is that it re- duces the load on the computer CPU, allowing more si- multaneous voices to be played etc. Spector The synthesis in this synthesizer is based around a “spec- trum filter”, which allows you to specify the frequency re- sponse by drawing a filter contour in the spectrum display. Slightly simplified, the signal path is the following: The starting point is the sound generated by up to 6 os- cillators. You can choose between different numbers of oscillators in different configurations (in octaves, in unison, etc.). The oscillators can also be detuned for fat sounds or extreme special effects. Each oscillator produces two basic waveforms, labelled A and B. You can choose between six different waveforms, independently se- lected for A and B. The two waveforms pass through separate spectrum fil- ters (A and B). You can draw different spectrum contours for the two filters, or select a contour from the included presets. The Cut 1 & 2 parameters allow you to shift the fre- quency range of the spectrum filter. This makes it easy to create unique-sounding filter sweeps. Finally, a Morph control lets you mix the output of spec- trum filters A and B. Since this can be controlled with envelopes, LFOs etc. you can create morphing effects. You also have controllers and modulation parameters (two LFOs, four envelopes and three effects). See “Modu- lation and controllers” on page 24. ÖThe signal flow of the Spector synth is illustrated in the section “Diagrams” on page 43. Feedback The feedback parameter controls the amount of positive or negative feedback for all four delay lines. The adjust- able range is from -1 to 1. Level This controls the output level of the effect. Parameter Description
23 The included VST Instruments Sound parameters Oscillator section A/B waveform pop-ups This is where you select basic waveforms for the A and B output of the oscillators. The options are especially suited for use with the spectrum filter. Coarse and Fine These parameters provide overall transposition and tuning of the oscillators (common for all oscillators, A and B waveforms). Oscillator pop-up This pop-up menu is opened by clicking on the text below the centrally placed section (which illustrates the currently selected oscillator configuration). Click here to open the Oscillator pop-up. The pop-up has the following oscillator configurations to chose between: Detune Detunes the oscillators (in all oscillator modes except “1Osc”). Low values will give gentle chorus-like detuning; raising the control will detune the oscillators by several semitones for clangorous special effects. Raster This parameter reduces the number of harmonics present in the oscillator waveforms in the following manner: Portamento This parameter makes the pitch glide between the notes you play. The parameter setting determines the time it takes for the pitch to glide from one note to the next. Turn the knob clockwise for longer glide time. The “Mode” switch allows you to apply glide only when you play a legato note (when switch is set to Legato). Le- gato is when you play a note without releasing the previ- ously played note. Note that Legato mode only works with monophonic Parts. Option Description 6 Osc 6 oscillators with the same pitch. 6 Osc 1:2 3 oscillators with base pitch and 3 pitched one octave down. 6 Osc 1:2:3 Three groups of two oscillators with the pitch ratio 1:2:3 (2 oscillators with base pitch, 2 oscillators at half the frequency of the base pitch and 2 oscillators at a third of the frequency). 6 Osc 1:2:3:4:5:66 oscillators tuned with the pitch ratio 1:2:3:4:5:6 (known as the “subharmonic series”). 4 Osc 1:2 2 oscillators with base pitch and 2 pitched one octave down. 3 Osc 3 oscillators with the same pitch. 2 Osc 2 oscillators with the same pitch. 2 Osc 1:2 One oscillator with base pitch and one pitched one octave down. 1 Osc A single oscillator. In this mode, the Detune and Cut II pa- rameters are not active. Setting Description 0 All harmonics present. 1 Only every second harmonic present. 2 Only every third harmonic present. ... ...and so on.
24 The included VST Instruments Spectrum filter section This is where you create the contours (frequency re- sponse characteristics) for the two 128 pole resonant spectrum filters “A” and “B”. You can use the Preset pop-up menu to select a preset contour if you like. To change the contour, click and “draw” with the mouse. Once you change the selected contour, it will be labeled as “Custom” in the Preset field above the display, indicating that you’re no longer using one of the presets. If you want to random calculate a spectrum filter curve, you can choose the Randomize function from the Preset pop-up. Each time you choose this function, a new randomized spectrum will ap- pear. Cut I and II These work much like cutoff frequency controls on a con- ventional filter: With the Cut controls at the maximum set- ting, the full frequency range will be used for the spectrum filter; lowering the Cut controls will gradually move the en- tire contour down in frequency, “closing” the filter. Note: If a 2 oscillator configuration is used, you can set differ- ent “cutoffs” for the two oscillators with Cut I and Cut II, respectively. Similarly, if more than two oscillators are used, they are internally divided in two groups, for which you can set independent “cutoffs” with Cut I and II. For example, in the “6 Osc” modes Cut I affects the sound of oscillators 1, 3 and 5 while Cut II affects the sound of oscillators 2, 4 and 6. In the “1 Osc” mode, the Cut II control is not used. If the Spectrum Sync (link symbol) button between the Cut controls is activated, the two knobs are synced and will follow each other and be set to the same value. Morph This controls the mix between the sound of spectrum fil- ters A and B. When the Morph knob is turned fully left, only the “A” sound will be heard; when it’s turned right only the “B” sound will be heard. This allows you to seam- lessly morph (manually or using an LFO or an envelope) between two totally different sounds. Master Volume and Pan The master Volume controls the master volume (ampli- tude) of the instrument. By default this parameter is con- trolled by Envelope 1, to generate an amplitude envelope for the oscillators. The Pan dial controls the position in the stereo spectrum for the instrument. You can use Pan as a modulation des- tination. Modulation and controllers The lower half of the control panel displays the various modulation and controller assignment pages available as well as the effect page. You switch between these pages using the buttons below the Morph section. The following pages are available: The LFO page has two low frequency oscillators (LFOs) for modulating parameters – see below. The Envelope page contains the four Envelope genera- tors which can be assigned to control parameters – see “Envelope page” on page 26. The Event page contains the common MIDI controllers (Mod wheel, Aftertouch etc. and their assignments – see “The Event page.” on page 28. The Effect page has three separate effect types avail- able; Distortion, Delay and Modulation – see “Effects (EFX) page” on page 28.
25 The included VST Instruments LFO page This is opened by clicking the LFO button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. The page contains all pa- rameters and the modulation and velocity destinations for two independent LFOs. Depending on the currently se- lected Preset, there may already be modulation destina- tions assigned, in which case these are listed in the “Mod Dest” box for each LFO – see “Assigning LFO modulation destinations” on page 25. A low frequency oscillator (LFO) is used for modulating parameters, for example the pitch of an oscillator (to produce vibrato), or for any pa- rameter where cyclic modulation is desired. The two LFOs have identical parameters: About the sync modes The Sync modes determine how the LFO cycle affects the notes you play: About the waveforms Most standard LFO waveforms are available for LFO mod- ulation. You use Sine and Triangle waveforms for smooth modulation cycles, Square and Ramp up/down for differ- ent types of stepped modulation cycles and Random or Sample for random modulation. The Sample waveform is different: In this mode, the LFO actually makes use of the other LFO as well. For example, if LFO 2 is set to use Sample the resulting effect will also depend on the speed and waveform of LFO 1. Assigning LFO modulation destinations To assign a modulation destination for a LFO, proceed as follows: 1.Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the LFOs. A pop-up appears with all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope parameters are available as destinations. The modulation destination pop-up. 2.Select a destination, e.g. Cut. The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount. Parameter Description Speed This governs the rate of the LFO. If MIDI Sync is activated (see below), the available rate values are selectable as note values, so the rate will synced to the sequencer tempo in Nuendo in various beat increments. Depth This controls the amount of modulation applied by the LFO. If set to zero, no modulation is applied. Waveform This sets the LFO waveform. Sync mode (Part/MIDI/ Voice/Key)This sets the sync mode for the LFO. See below for a de- scription. Parameter Description Part In this mode, the LFO cycle is free running and will affect all the voices in sync. “Free running” means that the LFO cycles continuously, and doesn’t reset when a note is played. MIDI In this mode the LFO rate is synced in various beat incre- ments to MIDI clock. Voice In this mode each voice in the Part has its own indepen- dent LFO cycle (the LFO is polyphonic). These cycles are also free running – each key down starts anywhere in the LFO cycle phase. Key Same as Voice except that it is not free running – for each key down the LFO cycle starts over.
26 The included VST Instruments You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key. To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value. 3.Select a suitable LFO Waveform, Speed, Depth and Sync mode. You should now hear the Cut parameter being modulated by the LFO. 4.Using the same basic method, you can add any num- ber of modulation destinations for the LFO. They will all be listed in the “Mod Dest” box. To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up. Assigning LFO velocity destinations You can also assign LFO modulation that is velocity con- trolled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows: 1.Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the LFOs. A pop-up appears with all possible velocity destinations are shown. 2.Select a destination. The selected velocity destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount. See below for an example of how velocity modula- tion works. You can set positive and negative values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key. To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value. 3.Using the same basic method, you can add any num- ber of velocity destinations for the LFO. They will all be listed in the “Vel Dest” box. To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up. LFO modulation velocity control – an example: If you follow the steps above and select the Cut parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens: The harder you strike the key, the more the Cut parame- ter will be modulated by the LFO. If you should enter a negative value for the velocity mod- ulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the Cut parameter is modulated by the LFO. Envelope page The Envelope page is opened by clicking the ENV button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. The page contains all parameters and the modulation and velocity destinations for the four independent envelope genera- tors. Envelope generators govern how a parameter value will change when a key is pressed, when a key is held and fi- nally when a key is released. The Envelope page. On the Envelope page, the parameters for one of the four envelope generators is shown at a time. You switch between the four envelopes in the section to the left. Clicking on either of the four mini curve displays 1 to 4 will select it and display the corresponding envelope parameters to the right. The mini curve displays also reflect the envelope settings for each corresponding envelope. Envelope generators have four parameters; Attack, De- cay, Sustain and Release (ADSR). See below for a description of these. You can set envelope parameters in two ways; either by using the sliders or by click-dragging the curve in the En- velope curve display. You can also do this in the mini curve displays. By default Envelope 1 is assigned to the master volume, and therefore acts as an amplitude envelope. The ampli- tude envelope is used to adjust how the volume of the sound should change from the time you press a key until the key is released. If no amplitude envelope were assigned, there would be no output.
27 The included VST Instruments The Envelope parameters are as follows: Attack The attack phase is the time it takes from zero to the max- imum value. How long this should take, depends on the Attack setting. If the Attack is set to “0”, the maximum value is reached instantly. If this value is raised, it will take time before the maximum value is reached. Range is from 0.0 milliseconds to 91.1 seconds. Decay After the maximum value has been reached, the value starts to drop. How long this should take is governed by the Decay time parameter. The Decay time has no effect if the Sustain parameter is set to maximum. Range is from 0.0 milliseconds to 91.1 seconds. Sustain The Sustain parameter determines the level the envelope should rest at, after the Decay phase. Note that Sustain represents a level, whereas the other envelope parame- ters represent times. Range is from 0 to 100. Release Release determines the time it takes for the value to fall back to zero after releasing the key. Range is from 0.0 mil- liseconds to 91.1 seconds. Punch When Punch is activated, the start of the decay phase is delayed a few milliseconds (the envelope “stays” at top level for a moment before moving on to the decay phase). The result is a punchier attack similar to a compressor ef- fect. This effect is more pronounced with short attack and decay times. Retrigger When Retrigger is activated, the envelope will re-trigger each time you play a new note. However, with certain tex- tures/pad sounds and a limited number of voices it is rec- ommended to leave the button deactivated, due to click noises that might occur, when the envelope is ended up abruptly. This is caused by the incoming re-trigger that forces the envelope to start over again. Assigning Envelope modulation destinations To assign a modulation destination for an Envelope, pro- ceed as follows: 1.Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the Envelopes. A pop-up appears with all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope parameters are available as destinations. 2.Select a destination, e.g. Cut. The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount. You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key. To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value. 3.Select a suitable envelope curve for the modulation. You should now hear the Cut parameter being modulated by the enve- lope as you play. 4.Using the same basic method, you can add any num- ber of modulation destinations for the envelope. They will all be listed in the “Mod Dest” box. To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up. Assigning Envelope velocity destinations You can also assign Envelope modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows: 1.Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the envelopes. A pop-up appears with all possible velocity destinations are shown. 2.Select a destination. The selected velocity destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount. See below for an example of how velocity modula- tion works. You can set positive and negative values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key. To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value. 3.Using the same basic method, you can add any num- ber of velocity destinations for the Envelope. They will all be listed in the “Vel Dest” box.
28 The included VST Instruments To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up. Envelope modulation velocity control – an example: If you follow the steps above and select the Cut parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens: The harder you strike the key, the more the parameter will be modulated by the Envelope. If you should enter a negative value for the velocity mod- ulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the Cut parameter will be modulated by the Enve- lope. Event page The Event page is opened by clicking the EVENT button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. This page contains the most common MIDI controllers and their re- spective assignments. The Event page. The following controllers are available: To assign any of these controllers to one or several pa- rameters, proceed as follows: 1.Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the controllers. A pop-up appears with all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope parameters are available as destinations. 2.Select a destination. The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount when the controller is at its full range. You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key. To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value. 3.Using the same basic method, you can add any num- ber of modulation destinations for the controllers. They will all be listed in the “Mod Dest” box for the respective controller. To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up. Effects (EFX) page This page features three separate effect units: Distortion, Delay and Modulation (Phaser/Flanger/Chorus). The Ef- fect page is opened by clicking the EFX button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. Each separate effect section is laid out with a row of buttons that determine the effect type or characteristic and a row of sliders for making parameter settings. To activate an effect, click the “Active” button so that a dot appears. Clicking again deactivates the effect. Distortion You can select between 4 basic distortion characteristics: Distortion provides hard clipping distortion. Soft Distortion provides soft clipping distortion. Tape Emulation produces distortion similar to magnetic tape saturation. Tube Emulation produces distortion similar to valve amplifiers. The parameters are as follows: Controller Description Modulation WheelThe modulation wheel on your keyboard can be used to modulate parameters. Velocity Velocity is used to control parameters according to how hard or soft you play notes on your keyboard. A common application of velocity is to make sounds brighter and louder if you strike the key harder. Aftertouch Aftertouch, or channel pressure, is MIDI data sent when pressure is applied to a keyboard after the key has been struck, and while it is being held down or sustained. Af- tertouch is often routed to control filter cutoff, volume, and other parameters to add expression. Most (but not all) MIDI keyboards send Aftertouch. Key Pitch TrackingThis can change parameter values linearly according to where on the keyboard you play. Parameter Description Filter This parameter sets the crossover frequency of the dis- tortion filter. The distortion filter consists of a lowpass fil- ter and a highpass filter with a cutoff frequency equal to the crossover frequency. Tone This parameter controls the relative amount of lowpass and high-pass filtered signal. Drive Sets the amount of distortion by amplifying the input sig- nal. Level This controls the output level of the effect.
29 The included VST Instruments Delay You can select between 3 basic delay characteristics: Stereo Delay has two separate delay lines panned left and right. In Mono Delay the two delay lines are connected in series for monophonic dual tap delay effects. In Cross delay the delayed sound bounces between the ste- reo channels. The parameters are as follows: Modulation You can select between 3 basic modulation characteris- tics: The Phaser uses an 8-pole allpass filter to produce the classic phasing effect. The Flanger is composed of two independent delay lines with feedback for the left and the right channel respectively. The delay time of both delays is modulated by one LFO with ad- justable frequency. Chorus produces a rich chorus effect with 4 delays modulated by four independent LFOs. The parameters are as follows: SR parameters With these buttons you can change the sample rate. Lower sample rates basically reduces the high frequency content and sound quality, but the pitch isn’t altered. This is a great way to emulate the “lo-fi” sounds of older digital synths! If button “F” is active, the selected Part’s program will play back with the sample rate set in the host application. If button “1/2” is active, the selected Part’s program will play back with half the original sample rate. If button “1/4” is active, the selected Part’s program will play back with a quarter of the original sample rate. A bonus effect of using lower sample rates is that it re- duces the load on the computer CPU, allowing more si- multaneous voices to be played etc. Parameter Description Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the delay times on or off. Delay 1 Sets the delay time ranging from 0 ms to 728 ms. If MIDI sync is activated the range is from 1/32 to 1/1; straight, triplet or dotted. Delay 2 Same as Delay 1. Feedback This controls the decay of the delays. With higher set- tings the echoes repeat longer. Filter A lowpass filter is built into the feedback loop of the de- lay. This parameter controls the cutoff frequency of this feedback filter. Low settings result in successive echoes sounding darker. Level This controls the output level of the effect. Parameter Description Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the Rate parameter on or off. Rate Sets the rate of the LFOs modulating the delay time. If Song Sync is activated the rate will be synced to various beat increments. Depth This parameter controls the depth of the delay time mod- ulation. Delay This parameter sets the delay time of the four delay lines. Feedback The feedback parameter controls the amount of positive or negative feedback for all four delay lines. The adjust- able range is from -1 to 1. Level This controls the output level of the effect. Parameter Description
30 The included VST Instruments Mystic The synthesis method used by Mystic is based on three parallel comb filters with feedback. A comb filter is a filter with a number of “notches” in its frequency response, with the notch frequencies harmonically related to the fre- quency of the fundamental (lowest) notch. A typical example of comb filtering occurs if you are using a flanger effect or a delay effect with very short delay time. As you probably know, raising the feedback (the amount of signal sent back into the delay or flanger) will cause a resonating tone – this tone is basically what the Mystic produces. As you will see, this astonishingly simple syn- thesis method is capable of generating a wide range of sounds, from gentle plucked-string tones to weird, non- harmonic timbres. The basic principle is the following: You start with an “impulse sound”, typically with a very short decay. The spectrum of the impulse sound will largely affect the tonal quality of the final sound. To set up an impulse sound on the Mystic you use a slightly simplified version of the synthesis found on the Spector synth. The impulse sound is fed into the three comb filters, in parallel. Each of these has a feedback loop. This means the output of each comb filter is fed back into the filter. This will result in a resonating feedback tone. When the signal is fed back into the comb filter, it goes via a separate, variable lowpass filter. This filter corresponds to the damping of high frequencies in a physical instrument – when set to a low cutoff frequency it will cause high har- monics to decay faster than the lower harmonics (as when plucking a string on a guitar, for example). The level of the feedback signal is governed by a feed- back control. This determines the decay of the feedback tone. Setting this to a nega- tive value will simulate the traveling wave in a tube with one open end and one closed end. The result is a more hollow, square wave-like sound, pitched one octave lower. A detune control offsets the fundamental frequencies of the three comb filters, for chorus-like sounds or drastic special effects. Finally you have access to the common synth parameters – two LFOs, four envelopes and an effect section. By default, envelope 2 controls the level of the impulse sound – this is where you set up the short impulse decay when emulating string sounds etc. ÖThe signal flow of the Mystic synth is illustrated in the section “Diagrams” on page 43. Sound parameters The Impulse Control section This is where you set up the impulse sound – the sound fed into the comb filters, serving as a starting point for the sound. The Impulse Control has two basic waveforms that are filtered through separate spectrum filters with adjust- able base frequency; the output is an adjustable mix be- tween the two waveform/spectrum filter signals.